The Christmas Castle Read online

  About The Christmas Castle

  Charlotte Glass thinks she knows what love is, but she hasn’t met Ian MacKay.

  After five years with her self-absorbed boyfriend, librarian Charlotte Glass surprises them both and breaks up with him. Before parting, he bitterly tells her to have fun on their upcoming romantic vacation—alone.

  * * *

  Two days later, Charlotte arrives at a remote cliffside castle in the Highlands of Scotland. Overwhelmed by its breathtaking beauty but desperately jet lagged, she sinks into her sumptuous bed for a quick power nap. She awakens in the middle of the night and heads for the castle library. There, beside a glowing fireplace, sits a strapping Scotsman with a glint in his gentle gray eyes.

  * * *

  Ian MacKay has too much charm for anyone’s good. But he also has scars and secrets. One thing that’s no secret is his interest in Charlotte. At first, it seems harmless. She’ll be gone in a week. But a week is long enough for Ian to know that he’s falling in love—and that the truth will destroy it.

  Also by J.L. Jarvis

  Christmas at Cedar Creek

  * * *

  Pine Harbor Series

  Allison’s Pine Harbor Summer

  Evelyn’s Pine Harbor Autumn

  Lydia’s Pine Harbor Christmas

  * * *

  Holiday House Novels

  The Christmas Cabin

  The Winter Lodge

  The Lighthouse

  The Christmas Castle

  The Beach House

  The Christmas Tree Inn

  The Holiday Hideaway

  * * *

  Highland Passage Series

  Highland Passage

  Knight Errant

  Lost Bride

  * * *

  Highland Soldiers Series

  The Enemy

  The Betrayal

  The Return

  The Wanderer

  * * *

  Highland Vow

  * * *

  American Hearts Romances

  Secret Hearts

  Runaway Hearts

  Forbidden Hearts

  * * *

  For more information, visit jljarvis.com.

  * * *

  Sign up for the J.L. Jarvis Journal.

  The Christmas Castle

  A Holiday House Novel

  J.L. Jarvis

  THE CHRISTMAS CASTLE

  A Holiday House Novel

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  Copyright © 2018 J.L. Jarvis

  All Rights Reserved

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

  * * *

  Published by Bookbinder Press

  bookbinderpress.com

  * * *

  ISBN 978-1-942767-33-6 (trade paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-942767-13-8 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-942767-12-1 (ebook)

  To librarians, who have magic at their fingertips and know how to use it.

  One

  “I’m sorry, I can’t accept that.” Charlotte’s face wrinkled up as the woman held out a zipped plastic bag that contained a children’s picture book soaked in vomit.

  “But it’s a library book, and you’re a librarian, so you have to take it.”

  Charlotte’s face must have gone blank, because her mind nearly did. “I’m sorry, but we can’t shelve that.”

  The woman’s mouth widened, but no one would call it a smile. “I don’t really care what you do with it.”

  “Mommy?”

  Charlotte looked over the edge of the counter, where a preschooler tugged on his mother’s arm with a persistence reserved for the young.

  “I’m returning it on time.” The woman would not relent.

  “Mommy!” Nor would the child.

  The young mother’s shiny cropped hair shook as she bent down. “Shh! You’ll make us late for your strategy lesson.”

  Charlotte couldn’t help herself. The words just slipped out in a soft whisper not meant to be heard. “Strategy lesson?” How much strategy does a four-year-old need? He seemed to be doing quite well on his own.

  The mother stood and faced Charlotte with the full force of her disdain. “His chess lesson. He’s very advanced. Now, would you mind if we finished up here? The nanny called in sick, and I really haven’t got time for this.”

  “Yes, of course, but you’ll need to pay for the damage.”

  The mom arched a brow without saying a word.

  Charlotte lobbed back her most neutral stare. “So… if you’ll give me your library card, I can look up the charges.”

  The woman lifted her chin and gave Charlotte an icy smile. “I’m not paying for that. I returned it on time, so I think we’re done here.” She dropped the bagged book on the counter.

  Charlotte flinched, fearing the bag might burst open.

  “C’mon, Wyatt.” The woman turned, grabbed her son’s hand, and walked to the exit, leaving the echoing click of heels in her wake.

  The children’s room director came over and quietly asked, “Everything okay?”

  Without looking up, Charlotte winced as she cleared the debris under the plastic away from the barcode so she could scan it. Then she typed while she answered. “Oh yeah. Everything’s fine. She returned the book—albeit marinated in barf—so she didn’t think she should have to pay for it.”

  The director suppressed a smile. “She can afford it. She once hosted a library fundraising event I attended. In her Upper East Side penthouse.”

  Charlotte paused long enough to look at her boss with a disbelieving stare before she returned to the computer. “I guess I’ll just put a bill on her account. “Returned book in damaged condition: soaked in vomit.” She carefully picked up the bag by the corner and gently set it down inside the wastebasket. Then she fished out a disinfecting wipe from the bottom drawer and wiped down the work area. “I’ll just BleachBit this counter, and then I’ll be off.”

  Her boss stood, arms folded, with a grin on her face. “Excellent work.”

  “Yeah, well, thanks to that master’s degree. Although I must have been absent the day they covered literary emetics in library school.”

  “It’s a graduate seminar course for archivists called Reflux Remediation.”

  Charlotte smirked, which drew a laugh from her boss, then went into the office to pack up for the day.

  Charlotte had an hour and a half to kill before meeting her boyfriend for dinner. Technically, they worked the same hours, but it seldom turned out that way. She used to feel like a slacker, but she’d come to realize that there was a world outside of her job, and she longed to discover it. Perhaps it was the nature of their respective careers. Garrett Thatcher loved his work as a stockbroker. It seemed to recharge him, while her work exhausted her. She respected what he did and the time it demanded, but she didn’t enjoy being left on the sidelines. It didn’t help that Garrett was the sun in his universe. That was part of the deal, although she’d never expressly agreed to it. On occasion, he allowed her to visit his world.

  It hadn’t always been like that. When they’d met during graduate school, they had been practically normal. They’d studied in adjacent study carrels and gone out on the weekends—when he had time. Maybe that was
when Charlotte had learned not to rely upon Garrett. He had life organized in compartments, each with its priority. She was in there somewhere, filed under “extraneous,” and she was okay with that. It wasn’t as if she needed a man to fulfill her life. She had a career, and she’d worked hard to get to her current position—a children’s librarian in the New York Public Library system. And she loved it. Well, most of it.

  But Christmas was coming—her favorite time of the year. She loved walking along the New York streets with their glittering lights and shop windows.

  She was walking to meet Garrett when she looked up from her musings to find a shop window with an old-fashioned train set making its way through a snowy landscape. Antique decorations and toys hung in seemingly no order above the toy train. With its hand-painted sign and holiday inventory, the shop looked like a transplant from Dickensian London. Charlotte hadn’t seen the place before, even though she’d walked the same route twice a day for the last five years. But New York real estate prices were high, and shops came and went. Since the shop was Christmas-themed, Charlotte surmised that it must be a short-term rental for the holiday season. Checking her watch, she realized she still had an hour before she was due to meet Garrett. She could never get too much Christmas, so she went in.

  The shelves overflowed with antiques and collectibles, all having something to do with the season. Perhaps it was only the afternoon light that came in through the window beside it, but something caught Charlotte’s eye, and she had to look closer. A small snow-globe ornament with a red ribbon tied to it was looped over a tree branch. She couldn’t resist picking it up and holding it up to the sunlight while the snow gently fell on the castle inside. A Scottish flag waved on its pole at the top of the tower.

  “I see you’ve found it.”

  Charlotte turned to find a lanky gentleman with gray hair and a beard setting down a box by the display window. He stood and peered at her with kind eyes. “We just got that in. I hung it up on the tree just a minute ago. It must be meant for you.”

  She smiled. “I’m not really in the market for a snow-globe ornament. I just stopped in to look around, really.”

  “Just $3.99, and it’s yours.” He lifted his eyebrows and gave her a knowing smile, as if she should appreciate what a bargain that was.

  She stared at the snow globe. “I’ll think about it.” She and Garrett were leaving the next day for Scotland. Charlotte had always wanted to go, so Garrett—without knowing or caring how transparent he was—chose the following week to schedule a long-overdue trip together. After five years, he would do anything to avoid visiting her parents for the holidays, not that there was anything wrong with her parents. He simply had things he would rather be doing, like putting an ocean between them. So he’d arranged for the trip.

  Well, in truth, his administrative assistant had done all the legwork. She’d outdone herself with this one. She had reserved a room for a week in a castle in the highlands of Scotland. Charlotte would definitely have to bring back something special for her. Maybe she would find an ornament like this with the actual castle. If they didn’t have ornaments, she was sure they would have dozens of alternatives like scarves, tote bags, or bone-china teacups. Whatever they had, Garrett’s assistant would get something special for giving Charlotte what promised to be the trip of her life.

  She moved on to a display of scented candles then picked up an old picture book. As she gently turned the crumbling corners of the pages, a woman came in with what looked like her grandchild in tow. The boy went straight to the window. While he watched the train on its journey, the woman picked up the ornament Charlotte had looked at mere moments before. She held it suspended from its ribbon and smiled as it slowly spun. “How much is this? I don’t see a price tag.”

  The shop owner glanced up from the shelf he was straightening. “Oh, I’m sorry. Someone else is getting that.”

  The woman grew cross. “Oh? Well, you really shouldn’t display things that you don’t intend to sell.”

  The older gentleman took the comment in stride. “You’re so right. My mistake. Here, I’ve got the perfect gift for you.” He pulled an old book off the shelf with a Victorian illustration on the cover.

  The woman’s face lit up. “A Child’s Garden of Verses! We had this exact book when I was a child. Look, Gabriel.” The boy glanced at it then continued to play with the train. “I’ll take it,” she said as she pulled a reluctant Gabriel to the counter. She paid for the book and left, looking much happier than the whining child she’d taken away from the train set. The bell rang lightly as they left, and the shop door closed.

  Charlotte turned to the shop owner. “I thought that ornament was for sale.”

  “It is.”

  “But—”

  “People don’t always know what’s best for them. That’s why we need gifts, so others can give it to them.”

  “But this isn’t a gift.”

  “It could be.”

  Charlotte took another look at the ornament.

  The old man grinned. “Carpe diem.”

  Seize the day? Maybe it was the spirit of Christmas that seized her, or pre-vacation excitement. Whatever it was, Charlotte pulled out her wallet and bought the castle ornament. She could hang it over a bottle of champagne for Garrett when he joined her in the restaurant. What a nice way to kick off their trip. As the shop owner wrapped up the ornament, Charlotte said, “You’re very good at what you do.”

  With a twinkle in his eye, the man said, “I get that a lot.”

  She took the wrapped package he handed her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas.” Charlotte left the shop and walked down the street toward the restaurant with fresh holiday cheer. She glanced at her watch and saw that she was still a bit early. But she went to the restaurant and sat at a table by the window, content to watch life passing by while she waited for Garrett.

  Charlotte sat alone at a table for two, her thick mass of chin-length auburn curls spiraling and bobbing as she talked on her phone with her friend Jen. “I'm just waiting for Garrett. No, I'm a little early.” She glanced at her watch. It was 7:40. Well, she would've been early for an eight o'clock date. Unfortunately, theirs had been scheduled for seven. They were supposed to meet right after work, which for her was 5:30. She’d planned to work later to kill time before dinner, but the barf book had finished her off for the day.

  “So what’s the occasion?” Jen asked.

  “Celebrating the start of our vacation. We’re leaving tomorrow for Scotland.”

  “Oh, wow! That’s tomorrow? But won’t it be cold?”

  “It’s about like here.”

  “Right. So, cold.”

  “A winter wonderland? Yes. My thought exactly.”

  “How nice. And sudden.”

  Charlotte shrugged. “I know. It was Garrett's idea. I’m pretty sure he did it to avoid Christmas with my parents.”

  “You’re going to miss Christmas?”

  “No, I made sure that we’re flying back on the twenty-third.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, it sounds very romantic!”

  Charlotte’s eyebrows drew together. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” More romantic than sitting all alone waiting for him.

  “Oh, there’s my doorbell,” Jen said. “I ordered Chinese. Gotta go. But we’ll talk before you leave. Bye.”

  “Okay, bye.” Charlotte set down the phone, and her smile faded. She’d done her best to sound cheerful with Jen, but the truth was she’d spent more time waiting on Garrett than dating him. She was forever waiting for dinner, waiting for phone calls, waiting five years for something to happen—like a relationship or, God forbid, a commitment. In his mind, they had one because she was usually—well, always—there for him. If he wasn’t always there for her, then she managed without him.

  Charlotte looked away as the host eyed her table. She was lucky they’d even seated her without the rest of her party. The restaur
ant was filling up. She flagged down the waiter and ordered another glass of wine. She and Garrett were regulars, so the server had waited on them before. “If you need the table, I can go to the bar and eat there.”

  He cast a sideways glance toward the door. “Sit tight. There’s no wait list yet.”

  “Really, it’s okay.”

  He gave his head a subtle shake. “Let’s give it a couple of minutes. I’ll go get you that wine.”

  A few tables away, a movement caught her eye. A young man got down on one knee and lifted adoring eyes to his date. With a jealousy-induced wince, Charlotte muttered, “Please be protesting the national anthem.” But he pulled a small box from his pocket, and the elated young woman’s hands flew to her face while the tears trailed down her apparently waterproof makeup. Charlotte had to admire a girl who was prepared for any contingency. The couple embraced, and the whole restaurant burst into applause. An unexpected tear clung to Charlotte's lashes.

  “Nice! I don’t usually get applause.” Garrett slipped into his seat with a grin. The waiter arrived, and Garrett ordered a beer.

  When the waiter was out of earshot, Charlotte stole a glance at her watch. “Is everything okay?”

  “Oh yeah. I went out for a drink with some of the guys after work.”

  Charlotte’s eyes widened. “You were at a bar with some guys? But I’ve been here waiting.”